Feeling Old

Have you ever run into a situation that just hits you in the face and makes you feel old all of a sudden? Like when you reference something from your past to a punk teenager who just looks at you like you have three heads, or you realize that a movie you love and still consider recent is actually 20 years old?


This happened to me recently at work, and after discussing it with her I found out that this has happened to my wife too.

So I’m at work just doing my job, and I hear a song that I absolutely love. Then I realize, hey this is playing on the store’s Muzak system. Then it hits me……this song, that I love and consider current and awesome…..is playing….on Muzak!

The first song that hit me like this is the following : Zero by The Smashing Pumpkins.



Pretty freakin’ awesome right? Besides having a place in one of my favorite episodes of the Simpsons AND setting up one of my favorite Simpsons’ quotes :

Billy Corgan : Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins
Homer : Homer Simpson, smiling politely.

…this song just plain rocks. It appears on just about every mix CD that I make and any time it shows up on the radio, it most definitely gets cranked. So why is it on the Muzak system? Basically my store targets men between the ages of 25-40 and since I fall square into this demographic it stands to reason that songs I like will pop up. Still seems kind of lame though..

So then it happens again. Hanging out at work when suddenly, this phenomenal hard rock gem shows up :



That’s right, She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult. Again, not only is this song completely awesome but it’s the ringtone on my mobile for when my wife calls me. Now, putting the band’s outfits aside in the video, this is an Alpha Class awesome song. What? You want me to explain the different classes for songs? No can do, because I just made that up. Sorry.

She Sells Sanctuary falls into that class of rock that must be played at full volume (that would also be considered “11” for you Spinal Tap fans) whenever it is on, no matter where you are, or how many infants are sleeping nearby.

To cap this off, my wife and I were shopping at Whole Foods Market, which again is a store catering to the 25-40 year old crowd because most of the music they play is 80s and early 90s stuff that my wife and I listen to. She had the same reaction when hearing The Cure’s Fascination Street at Whole Foods one day. Excitement, then suspicion, then confusion, then sadness that the music we grew up with and still love is being pumped into a grocery store while we buy organic whole grain bread and yogurt.

There are still some favorites that will never be desecrated like this though. For example, one of my all time favorite Nirvana songs will (hopefully) never be heard while looking at the organic produce :



That gives me some hope, and I can only imagine some of the things that will make us feel old once my daughter grows up enough to start listening to whatever pop music from hell that will exist when she is 10.

Anyone else have an experience like this? Feel free to comment and share with the group 